Upon review: 10 things I think I learned

Tennessee is now 7-0 after doing what they should do, take care of business against an inferior opponent. The Vols did that with a 65-24 win over UT-Martin. Before it becomes all about Kentucky’s visit, we review the Vols’ final non-conference win with 10 things I think I learned. 

1. Takin’ care of business

Tennessee could have had a sluggish start and still won, but the Vols had no ‘Alabama hangover.’ Josh Heupel’s team found their own juice and were focused. A credit to the maturity of this football team. Again Tennessee should have beaten the Skyhawks handily regardless but a three and out to start the game for the defense and a touchdown drive on the offense’s first possession eliminated any doubt about the Vols being flat. 

No it was far from perfect as the Vols had 13 penalties for 109 yards. But the Vols were ready to play from the start. They got their starters off the field quickly and remained healthy with their starting 22. 

In other words it was a good day. I continue to be impressed with this team’s focus. 

2. It looks so effortless

What Jalin Hyatt is doing right now is borderline ridiculous. Nine touchdown catches in three games is doing work and he’s got those nine scores on just 17 catches. So essentially every other catch he makes is for six points. In the last six quarters of play (he didn’t play in the second half on Saturday) Hyatt has 381 yards and seven touchdowns. Safeties can’t run with him and nickel backs can’t seem to either. Hyatt’s route running has gotten so much better that his speed is now a factor on every route, not just the take off patterns. 

Hyatt now has eight catches of 40+ yards this season. 

Hyatt’s engagement into everything football is impressive. He remained engaged in the game in the second half talking to the younger receivers. He immediately gets the ball to the official after a catch. If you look back at the Alabama game, after McCoy’s catch you see Hyatt signaling for a timeout. 

He has great field awareness right now and he’s playing controlled, but still playing fast fast. On the touchdown catch from Fant, Hyatt showed great patience at the line of scrimmage to sell that he was blocking before taking off. I will continue to say it, I think Hyatt is one of the best stories in college football. 

3. Run game was just ok

Tennessee did rush for 201 yards, but 60 of that came from the quarterback mostly on scrambles (Milton had one designed run). UT-Martin ran a different type defense as they play a lot of gap contain with their defensive front and turn their linebackers loose. Upon review, it looked like the offense didn’t have a much success blocking them. Jaylen Wright, Jabari Small, and Dylan Sampson combined for 114 yards on 30 carries which is an average of 3.8 yards and 45 yards of that came on one carry. 

It wasn’t a terrible day for the offensive line but it wasn’t at the level it has been the last three weeks, especially the last two. 

Again, the schedule set up well for this team. It was the perfect time for a payday game. 

4. Vols are good against the run (test coming)

I had this stat in my day after piece. The Vols have given up 245 yards on the ground in the last three games. That’s right at 82 yards a game. The Vol defensive front seven has been good all year against the run. 

Tennessee has given up 636 yards in seven games and 76 of that came on one run at Pittsburgh. For the season, Tennessee has given up three runs of 20 yards or more and two of them came against Pitt. 

Rodney Garner’s commitment to playing 12 guys up front is paying off as the defensive front is not wearing down in games. 

Saturday was a good day for Tyree West who got his most snaps of the season and he was active. West can certainly help this team down the stretch. Bryson Eason played 20 snaps and had two tackles. Eason makes a couple of plays every week. If he could ever put it all together watch out. The guy is really athletic for his size. He’s getting better and Tennessee will need him more the back half of the season. 

It will be a rough Monday on the practice field for Garner’s group, who jumped offsides multiple times and extended a drive with a roughing the passer penalty.

5. Let’s see some more William Wright?

Give Wright his due. He was forced into action with the game on the line against Alabama and recorded two tackles. He was put back in the line-up on Saturday after some assignment issues with Dee Williams who was playing for Brandon Turnage, who was injured. Wright made one of the best plays of the year for a Vol cornerback, reading the quarterbacks eyes in zone coverage and stepping in front of the receiver for an interception. 

Tennessee wasn’t going to lose the game so let’s make that clear, but for the second straight possession UT-Martin was driving and was looking to tie the score at 14. That turnover turned into 31 straight points for the Vols and a rout. 

Willie Martinez should get Kamal Hadden back this week as well as Brandon Turnage. William Wright has some limitations in man coverage, but he’s playing pretty well and can  help in a struggling secondary. He’s showed good instincts. 

6. Paxton Brooks needs to flush Saturday and reset

Brooks’ kickoffs were shorter than normal. UT-Martin didn’t try to return them although some were returnable for sure. And Brooks just didn’t hit either punt very well at all.

Brooks needs to flush it and move on. This is a big week. Kentucky freshman Barion Brown is kickoff return threat. He’s returned one for a score while averaging 43.3 yards on seven returns. Tennessee will need to cover well and Tennessee will need to be able to flip the field and you can’t do that when you average 28 yards a punt. 

Speaking of special teams, I’m advocating for Dee Williams as a kickoff returner as well as the punt returner. Williams is not a dancer, he catches a punt and gets up field quickly and is really explosive. There could be an opportunity for some hidden yards there and I don’t think Williams is ready to be a factor at corner so get him more involved. 

7. Secondary must tackle better

Some of it was younger players, but Tennessee missed seven tackles in the secondary on Saturday according to Pro Football Focus. Over the last four games they have missed 28 tackles. As a team, Kentucky is averaging nearly 14 yards a reception so they are pushing the ball and they have some guys who can take a short throw and turn it into something. Tennessee’s secondary must play tighter coverage so they are in better position to make a tackle. 

8. They are just hard to defend

Tennessee isn’t perfect offensively. But man they are hard to defend. I’m not sure the best way to attack them. If you rush three and drop eight into coverage Alex Golesh is not afraid to run it. If you play man coverage then Tennessee is going over your head. If you roll safeties over the top outside the hash then Tennessee’s going to attack the middle of the field. In the last two weeks Hooker is 28-of-35 for 506 yards and seven touchdowns between the hash marks. 

With an offensive line playing well (acknowledging they were not great on Saturday) then you have some real issues trying to slow down this offense. 

By the way, maybe the biggest key to this offense is the tight end spot. It gives Tennessee so much flexibility formation wise. They can spread you out with the tight ends and attack on the perimeter, then they can shrink the field and go into tighter formations without changing personnel because of the tight ends. 

“The offense is based on creating matchups,” offensive coordinator Alex Golesh said. “So, whether those matchups are spread out or those matchups are tight, it’s creating matchups. I think we talked about it in the spring and we talked about it in the summer, continuing to create variation in what we do, more so than are we tight or are we wide. Just continuing with tempo to create different pictures. We’ve been able to grow in every facet offensively, but that’s just part of it, is in certain situations, you need to condense it to be able to create some edges. You saw us be able to condense it and to go back out and be able to condense it to stay in, but it’s staying balanced is the key to the whole deal and building from week to week. Next week, there will be a different wrinkle to it, and that’s our job to figure out those wrinkles. We’ve played tight. We haven’t played tight consistently. I think that’s been the growth within our offense, is the ability to play tight, then play wide, then tight, then wide … and to create confusion in some ways, to create extra gaps in some ways. But I think as we evolve offensively, that’s part of it. I know the under-center question from a year ago, hopefully we’ve answered that. We took it as a challenge, and we have answered the bell there. But just continuing to evolve and create different pictures for defenses, to obviously be less predictable.”

9. Smart by Josh Heupel

The offensive head coach didn’t mess around on Saturday trying to get an individual any more stats. He was wise to get his starters off the field as quick as he could. Many coaches love that play a whole half and one series of the second half stuff and that’s how Heupel has done it previously, but the stakes for this team are high and the opportunities in front of them are legit. 

They didn’t call any quarterback runs with Hendon Hooker. They rotated guys early on defense and didn’t take any chances at all. 

Good game management to not stat hunt and to see the big picture of what’s ahead. 

10. On the young guys

When guys get that many snaps it gives you a good perspective on things and sometimes you see a guy and wonder why isn’t this guy or that guy playing more. 

I didn’t leave the game or re-watch saying there was someone who just looked ready to really help now. 

But I did like what I saw from a couple of guys. I think we all know Squirrel White is fast and could do things but he’s not getting snaps over Hyatt, McCoy, Keyton and Tillman (when he comes back). But he’s got a good future in this offense. 

I really like Tyre West and I think he could help more now and I bet he gets more opportunities down the stretch of the season. West has a quick twitch about him and seems to have a good football IQ. 

Another guy who has stood out to me in garbage time and could be a nice piece to the puzzle as he develops in the next year is linebacker Kalib Perry. He seems to be around the ball a lot. He had three tackles on Saturday in 32 snaps. He has six tackles in 60 snaps as a middle linebacker this year. 

Perry is going to have a lot of opportunities this spring and in fall camp next year to be a real factor at linebacker in 2023.